“I don’t eat that.” “I don’t watch that.” I don’t use that kind.” “I wouldn’t ever wear that.”

It’s a badge we all cling to at times. That special thing that sets us apart from the others around us. The thing that proves that we are on a higher mental, physical or even spiritual level than those around us. Whether it’s being environmentally conscious, eating healthier, saving money, saving lives, succeeding at a job or working out, we find our value there. I have spent years looking for mine. I tried to be vegetarian, tried to be rich, tried to recycle everything, the whole time making sure everyone around me knew what I was doing.

“Hey, did you know you could recycle that, like I do?”

“You know what I would do with your tax return?”

At one point I even had a “Kill Your Television” sticker on my car for a while. I wanted everyone to know that I thought television was bad. And I guess what? I was better than you for knowing that. Most likely we have all had friends, or family members that assume that we are doing something wrong by the way we live, and that’s when the badges come out. The tidbits of advise that aren’t asked for, aimed at making us want to be more like that person and less like ourselves.

I’m not saying that these badges are bad. I am all for being environmental, cutting back on t.v., and eating right, but when does it cross the line into self-fulfillment by pushing my badge onto you? There are some very valuable things that can be learned by someone with the right badge at the right time, but I believe it has the potential to destroy relationships as well. When the badge becomes a weapon I believe it looses credibility. Someone can have a tremendous heart for the African people, yet treat their friends like crap. Someone may be a picture of health and desperately want to help people get healthy, but in doing so make them feel less like a person because they are in poor shape.

What would it look like if “loving people” trumped any other badge? What if looking beyond what a person is doing, even if it’s the opposite of anything you would ever do, and simply loving them became our badge? What if someone labeled you as someone who loved people before they labeled you as someone who worked out a lot? Someone who didn’t watch t.v.? A vegetarian? A musician? A successful business man? Even a humanitarian? What if our “cause” was love and acceptance before any other cause?

When a cause becomes something that creates a void in loving people, I believe, as great as that cause is, that cause is broken.